An estimated 3,560 deaths from Indonesia's wildfire smoke

The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a think tank based in Helsinki, estimates that pollution from wildfire smoke caused 3,560 deaths in Indonesia in September (Japan Times; SCMP). The study estimated short-term deaths from PM2.5 pollution, meaning deaths within a matter of days (Japan Times; SCMP). Al Jazeera's report says the smoke "killed 3,560 people", citing the study (Al Jazeera). CREA released the study on Thursday 29 October, the day before our window opened (Al Jazeera). Indonesia has 283.5 million people (World Bank, 2024).

Two different comparisons with August. As Al Jazeera gives the figures, CREA found that deaths related to air pollution from all sources rose 42 per cent, from an estimated 3,740 in August to 5,310 in September (Al Jazeera). CREA's statement, quoted by Japan Times and SCMP, calls the 3,560 smoke-related estimate "a twofold increase from the August estimate" (Japan Times; SCMP). The first compares all air-pollution deaths, the second smoke deaths alone; our sources do not give the August smoke figure. All three put a further 1,750 estimated deaths in September down to non-fire sources for the total of 5,310 (Al Jazeera; Japan Times; SCMP).

Where. According to the report as Al Jazeera describes it, fire smoke accounted for 94 to 99 per cent of air-pollution deaths in Kalimantan, on Borneo, and more than 80 per cent on Sumatra, while deaths on Java stayed mostly tied to urban and industrial sources (Al Jazeera). For Java, Japan Times and SCMP say the report put 1,530 of September's estimated deaths, between 73 and 80 per cent of the island's total, down to sources other than fire (Japan Times; SCMP). Al Jazeera gives a record 58 million people exposed to "unhealthy" to "hazardous" air in September; Japan Times, citing CREA, gives about 57.8 million (Al Jazeera; Japan Times). Japan Times and SCMP report more than 330,000 recorded cases of acute respiratory infection, without saying who recorded them (Japan Times; SCMP).

The fires and the government's response. Indonesia has fought wildfires for months in a drought worsened by El Niño; the deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas says more than 1.9 million hectares burned in the nine months to September (Japan Times; SCMP). AFP's copy of the story, as Kuwait Times carries it, makes clear that the burned-area figure is the one the government has neither confirmed nor rejected (Kuwait Times, carrying AFP); Japan Times and SCMP use the same sentence without saying which number it means (Japan Times; SCMP). The haze has raised pollution in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and East Timor (Al Jazeera; Japan Times). On the Wednesday before our window opened, the government defended its approach in a statement: it said more than 72,000 people had been deployed for firefighting and cloud-seeding, more than 2,100 doctors and health workers had been activated in hard-hit areas, and 5.3 million masks had been handed out (Japan Times; SCMP; Al Jazeera). In the CREA report, Agus Sari, chief executive of the consultancy Landscape Indonesia, pointed to the government's "weak preparedness" and to budget cuts hampering the national disaster management agency, BNPB (Japan Times; SCMP).

Why it matters beyond this week. The report argues that the government should move from fighting fires to restoring peatlands made fire-prone by draining, backed by enforcement against illegal clearing by burning, and must enforce stricter emissions standards where pollution is not from fires, such as on Java (Japan Times; SCMP). The story was thinly carried: three newsrooms in our sources, based in East Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, and the Japan Times and SCMP texts closely follow AFP's copy, so they are fewer independent reports than they appear.

The United Nations closed two missions in Africa over the weekend. In Somalia, the UN Transitional Assistance Mission (UNTMIS) stopped work on Saturday 31 October, ending a two-year transition the Somali government had requested, the mission said on X (Al Jazeera; UN News). In Western Sahara, MINURSO, the UN's peacekeeping mission, lost its mandate at midnight on Saturday because the Security Council could not agree on its future the day before (UN News). Somalia has 19.0 million people (World Bank, 2024). Morocco controls most of Western Sahara and claims it as its own; the Algeria-backed Polisario Front also claims it and seeks an independent state (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters; The Straits Times, carrying Reuters, later report). The UN classifies the territory as "non-self-governing" (France 24). The Somali closure was carried in four independent reports in our sources.

Somalia. The UN's political presence began in 1995 as the UN Political Office for Somalia; its successor, UNSOM, set up in 2013, was renamed UNTMIS during the transition (Channels TV). Its work has passed to Somali institutions and the UN country team, say Channels TV and The Hindu, which carry the same text; Al Jazeera adds the UN office that supports African Union troops (The Hindu; Al Jazeera). Raisedon Zenenga, the mission's officer-in-charge and the UN secretary-general's deputy special representative for Somalia, said the closure followed "considerable progress by Somalia" though "significant challenges remain" (UN News). Al Jazeera notes that nothing has been agreed to replace the mission's mediation between rival leaders, and that opposition leaders reject the government's position that constitutional changes let the president and parliament remain in office until 2027 (Al Jazeera).

Western Sahara, Friday 30 October. Russia vetoed a US draft that would have renewed MINURSO for a year and dropped "referendum" from its name; 11 of the 15 members, France and the United Kingdom among them, voted for it (Al Jazeera; Anadolu). Sources describe the draft's terms differently. Al Jazeera, Reuters, Middle East Eye and Le Monde say it would have made Morocco's autonomy plan the only basis for talks (Al Jazeera; The Straits Times, carrying Reuters; Middle East Eye; Le Monde). RFI, which saw a revised draft before the vote, reported that it presented the plan as the most viable solution rather than the only one and restored the principle of self-determination (RFI, 30 October; RFI, 31 October). The US ambassador, Mike Waltz, said the draft "would have moved the 50-year conflict forward", and UN News reports the US delegate saying it supported self-determination and calling the status quo unacceptable (Al Jazeera; UN News). Russia's ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the Council "cannot automatically predetermine matters relating to sovereignty" (Al Jazeera).

Russia's own draft, renewing the mission unchanged, also failed. Reuters' later account gives three votes in favour, one against and 11 abstentions (WMBD, carrying Reuters), and Eunews names the three as Russia, China and Somalia, with the United States against (Eunews); The Nation gives the same count (The Nation). An earlier Reuters copy and Al Jazeera gave two in favour (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters; Al Jazeera), and Middle East Eye's report that eleven members voted against differs from every other account (Middle East Eye). Business Insider Africa, Middle East Eye and Le Monde call the US vote a veto (Business Insider Africa; Le Monde); UN News says only that the text fell short of the nine votes needed (UN News).

Reactions. Morocco's royal palace on Friday welcomed the outcome, said UN personnel and equipment should leave in the coming days and the issue should come off the Council's agenda, and said Morocco remained committed to the ceasefire (Al Jazeera). Algeria's foreign ministry on Saturday expressed "deep regret" and blamed the "excessive bias" of the US towards Morocco's position (Al Jazeera). The Polisario Front's UN representative, Sidi Omar, welcomed Russia's veto on Friday (Al Jazeera); Reuters reports a Polisario statement, undated in its copy, voicing concern "at the deadlock", while France 24 reports the Front calling the non-renewal "an unacceptable decision" (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters; France 24). On Sunday Guterres, through his spokesperson, confirmed the end of the mission and the start of its liquidation, and said its departure "does not abrogate" the people's "inalienable right to self-determination" (UN News; Al Jazeera).

Libya, Friday 30 October. At the same session the Council renewed the UN Support Mission in Libya for a year; the resolution, put forward by the United Kingdom, passed 13-0, with Russia and Greece abstaining (Anadolu).

Why it matters beyond this week. Guterres said he remained worried about "the risk of hostilities escalating" in Western Sahara, and Oxfam said the loss of the mission's "monitoring and de-escalation functions" put security and stability at risk (UN News; Al Jazeera). In Somalia, African Union troops rely on a separate UN office, UNSOS, for food, fuel, medical care and transport; Al Jazeera cites a Reuters report from September that a US-backed plan could close that office by December 2027 (Al Jazeera).

The FBI said on Saturday 31 October that North Korea stole "more than $6 billion" in virtual assets from Binance, which it dated "on or about" 29 October, and named the group behind it as TraderTraitor (The Guardian; Yonhap). The theft itself happened late on Thursday 29 October, before this window: the blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis say most of it took about 20 minutes (Al Jazeera). On Sunday 1 November Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by daily trading volumes as DW describes it, began reopening withdrawals in phases (DW; BBC). Thirty-five newsrooms, based in eight regions, carried the story in our sources. North Korea has 26.5 million people (World Bank, 2024).

The figures. Binance put the loss at about $6.3 billion and warned on X that the figure "may continue to increase" (Al Jazeera). TRM said an attacker moved approximately $6.36 billion out of Binance wallets on ten blockchains (PBS, carrying AP). The FBI's statement says "more than $6 billion" (France 24). That this is the largest crypto theft on record is the assessment of TRM and other crypto firms and experts, AP reports; the previous record was the $1.5 billion taken from Bybit in February 2025, which the FBI also blamed on North Korea and TraderTraitor (PBS, carrying AP; Al Jazeera). Binance said on Friday it had frozen around $3 billion of the stolen assets with law enforcement and partners (BBC).

The FBI's statement, Saturday 31 October. The FBI said that with the US Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation division it had seen TraderTraitor actors converting stolen assets mainly into ethereum, and expected further laundering through decentralised finance and "instant swap services" (Japan Times; Yonhap). It asked exchanges, blockchain analytics firms and others to block transactions linked to the group's addresses (DW). TraderTraitor is believed to be part of the Lazarus Group, the Guardian reports (The Guardian). North Korea has always denied involvement in such attacks, the BBC notes (BBC).

Trump. Asked on Friday at the White House whether North Korea was involved, President Donald Trump said: "We're looking at that" (PBS, carrying AP). On Saturday night at Mar-a-Lago, after the FBI's statement, he said "I'm not concerned. We're learning about it" and "We don't know if it's North Korea" and, as Yonhap and the BBC report, that if it is, "we'll talk to North Korea about it" (Yonhap; BBC). France 24 and Channels TV write that he "cast doubt" on North Korea's involvement (France 24; Channels TV); Yonhap leads instead with his offer to talk (Yonhap).

Binance's recovery, Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday Binance said it had set aside company funds to cover the losses: more than $6.34 billion as DW and France 24 report it, about $6.34 billion in the Guardian's account (DW; France 24; The Guardian). It said it had bought tokens to replace about 90% of what was stolen, the other 10% being less liquid tokens that could take longer to buy (DW; The Guardian). Accounts of Sunday differ. France 24 writes that the exchange said it had covered 95% (France 24); NPR that by Sunday Binance said it had replaced nearly 100% (NPR); the BBC, reporting Sunday's update, still gives 90% (BBC). The first phase of withdrawals is also described differently: France 24 quotes a Binance post naming the bitcoin network as the first batch (France 24); DW says the first phase covered 15 cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ether, XRP and dogecoin (DW); the Guardian says holders of ethereum, USDT and USDC on the ethereum blockchain came first (The Guardian).

Why it matters beyond this week. Crypto theft has become a much-needed source of money for Pyongyang that helps fund its nuclear programme, which is under UN sanctions, according to experts cited by Al Jazeera; TRM's Ari Redbord called the theft "a global security issue, not just a crypto theft" (Al Jazeera). In Seoul, the Korea Herald reported the attribution alongside an alert by South Korean financial authorities after about 4.4 million scanning attempts on South Korean financial institutions from internet addresses assigned to North Korea, beginning on 21 October; no breach linked to those addresses has been confirmed, the paper says (Korea Herald). NPR notes that Binance is not necessarily bound by current regulations to repay customers (NPR).

On Saturday 31 October hundreds of thousands of people marched across France for the third weekend running, against the cost of living and over conditions in schools; the marches were largely peaceful, but clashes broke out in Paris and other cities later in the day (Al Jazeera; SCMP). France has 68.6 million people (World Bank, 2024). The story reached fifteen newsrooms in eight regions in our sources. Al Jazeera led on "mostly young people" and schools, SCMP named police violence among the grievances, and Egypt Independent led on the spread to Germany (Al Jazeera; SCMP; Egypt Independent).

How many marched. The counts differ. The interior ministry put turnout at 320,000 nationwide, 70,000 of them in Paris (Egypt Independent; The Guardian, live page); youth organisations said nearly half a million, 200,000 of them in the capital (Japan Times). The ministry's figure is below the 410,000 it gave for the previous Saturday and the 550,000 for 17 October (The Guardian, live page; New York Times, live page).

The clashes. After a last-minute court battle, the main Paris march had been moved to the city's eastern edge (Al Jazeera). There, AFP journalists saw dozens of masked people in black prise up paving stones with hammers and throw them at police, who answered with tear gas and baton charges (The Straits Times, carrying AFP). The police prefecture said several hundred rioters attacked officers with projectiles; a New York Times reporter described police skirmishing with 200 to 300 rioters (Japan Times; New York Times, live page). Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called a Molotov cocktail thrown at a member of the riot police in Paris, a mobile gendarme according to Le JDD, an "attempted murder", saying the officer's injuries were minor (Japan Times; Le JDD); late on Saturday the ministry said four police officers and one gendarme had been hurt in Paris, three of them burned by Molotov cocktails (Japan Times). Nationwide, 116 members of the security forces were injured, the authorities said on Sunday, Le JDD reports (Le JDD). Police fired tear gas in Lyon and used water cannon in Toulouse; the New York Times also reports clashes in Marseille and Rennes (SCMP; New York Times, live page). Nuñez blamed far-left extremist groups (Japan Times); the New York Times says officials have confirmed that young men tied to the far right have also infiltrated the demonstrations (New York Times, live page).

Arrests. The ministry gave figures at several points on Saturday, and outlets carry different ones: 296 detained as of 6pm local time (Egypt Independent); 520 as at 7pm GMT (8pm in Paris), Nuñez said (The Straits Times, carrying AFP); and 565 late on Saturday (Japan Times), a provisional count made at 9pm, CNews reports (CNews). On Sunday afternoon the ministry gave 779 arrests for Saturday, Le JDD reports (Le JDD). Al Jazeera, citing the ministry, gives "at least 290" and SCMP "more than 290", neither with a time (Al Jazeera; SCMP).

The government. About 70,000 police and gendarmes were deployed, and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu met student unions several times during the week and is looking at ways to ease the cost of living, Al Jazeera reports (Al Jazeera). Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, said on X that those behind the firebomb must be punished "with the utmost severity" (Japan Times).

Germany, Saturday 31 October. Youth protests under the name Gen Z regelt took place in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich and other cities; the organisers said 120,000 people took part, while Egypt Independent describes "tens of thousands" (Al Jazeera; Egypt Independent). Earlier in the day, German authorities had called the demonstrations largely peaceful so far and warned that extremist groups might try to exploit the movement (The Guardian, live page). Frankfurt police said Molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency workers; Al Jazeera, from the police account, reports a large group detained in the city centre; Egypt Independent reports a suspect arrested after windows were broken at a gun shop (Al Jazeera; Egypt Independent). Police used water cannon in Frankfurt, Cologne and Hamburg (Al Jazeera; France 24).

Why it matters beyond this week. France votes for a president in less than six months, with Le Pen leading the polls, and AFP says the government has little room to spend its way out of the protests, with the economy near recession and under pressure on debt (The Straits Times, carrying AFP). A spokeswoman for the Union étudiante, Sabrine Kharbach, said students would blockade universities and high schools on Tuesday and Thursday, joining the trade unions' demonstration on Thursday 5 November (SCMP).

The US State Department said on Friday 30 October that it had approved a possible sale to Ukraine of 500 Patriot PAC-3 interceptor missiles, with spare parts and support, at an estimated cost of $2.1 billion (Anadolu; Al Jazeera). It is an approval, not a delivery: the sale goes to the US Congress for review (France 24). The story was carried by fourteen independent reports from newsrooms based in seven regions in our sources. Ukraine has 37.9 million people (World Bank, 2024).

Who pays. According to the department's statement, Ukraine will pay with donations from Canada, Germany and Norway through a US programme called JUMPSTART, and with national funds drawn from the European Union's Ukraine Support Loan; the department said "no U.S. funds are involved" (Anadolu; BBC). Anadolu describes that loan as an EU credit instrument of up to €90 billion for 2026–2027, with €60 billion set aside for Ukraine's defence, and says the European Commission has approved its use for Patriot interceptors (Anadolu). Lockheed Martin is the principal contractor, the department said (BBC). On the review, TASS reports that lawmakers have 30 days to examine the deal and could block it (TASS); franceinfo writes that no timetable has been given for that step (Franceinfo, in French).

When the missiles could arrive. The statement gave no delivery estimate (Japan Times). Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, praised a "strong decision by the US state department" but wrote on X that "it has been stipulated that deliveries may begin ONLY IN A FEW YEARS" (The Guardian; Euronews). Japan Times and France 24 say he posted late on Friday; the Guardian says early on Saturday (Japan Times; France 24; The Guardian). Two people briefed on the decision told Reuters that the missiles have not yet been made and are not expected to arrive until "a couple of years into the 2030s" (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters; The Guardian). One of them said Ukraine's defence ministry is encouraging the Pentagon to bring delivery forward, possibly by handing over missiles already in the US arsenal and replacing them with the new ones (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters).

What Zelensky is asking for. He said the United States and its partners hold "sufficient stocks" of PAC-3 interceptors, and that supplying them during the winter of 2026–2027 and refilling those stocks later from the new production "would be the right approach" (Euronews). Egypt Independent, carrying a CNN report, quotes him as saying Ukraine had asked for a winter package of 100 Patriot interceptors a month (Egypt Independent). On Wednesday, before the window, he gave Ukraine's average as 12 a month in 2026: what Ukraine "will receive" this year, in franceinfo's account, and what it has received so far, in Anadolu's (Franceinfo, in French; Anadolu). On Saturday morning he said about 200,000 households in the Dnipro region and at least 80,000 in the Kyiv region had lost electricity after Russian strikes on Friday night (BBC).

How it was told. TASS reported the approval from Washington with the statement's wording, including that the sale would not harm US defence readiness, and did not carry Zelensky's warning about timing (TASS). Meduza, in a story translated from Russian, set the approval beside what it described as Zelensky's repeated accusation that the United States, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth personally, were deliberately delaying interceptor deliveries (Meduza). Anadolu and Euronews report him as saying that Kyiv had waited almost a month for Hegseth to sign off on missiles (Anadolu; Euronews); franceinfo reports that he accused the United States, not Hegseth by name, of delaying them on purpose (Franceinfo, in French). Franceinfo opened by asking whether it was a relief for Kyiv (Franceinfo, in French). Reuters writes that delayed deliveries had added to tension between Kyiv and Washington after Donald Trump announced a diesel deal with Russia, and that Trump criticised Zelensky over Ukraine's unwillingness to stop attacks on Russian refineries (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters); Al Jazeera and the Guardian carry the same account (Al Jazeera; The Guardian).

Why it matters beyond this week. The BBC reports a global shortage of these interceptors because of US use in its war against Iran, and cites the US Department of Defense as saying only 600 are produced a year (BBC). Lockheed has said a US Army contract worth up to $58.6 billion, awarded in July, would let it triple PAC-3 production capacity by the end of 2030 (Al Jazeera).

Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party led a rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday 1 November, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a revision of the voter rolls (Al Jazeera; BBC). Outlets describe the crowd differently: Al Jazeera and the South China Morning Post say thousands; France 24 and the BBC say tens of thousands; the Guardian says thousands in its opening and puts the final turnout in the tens of thousands (Al Jazeera; SCMP; France 24; BBC; The Guardian). The SCMP says the opposition had predicted hundreds of thousands; the Guardian says Congress leaders had predicted a million, and that empty seats were visible (SCMP; The Guardian). India has 1.45 billion people (World Bank, 2024). This digest has followed the voter-rolls thread since issue four.

The revision removed more than 130 million names, according to Al Jazeera and the BBC, which says they came off the draft rolls; France 24 gives more than 133 million, a figure that Indian media reported and opposition parties have cited in court (Al Jazeera; BBC; France 24). Opposition parties allege the deletions disproportionately affected Muslims and other minorities; the Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said voters wrongly removed can register again (Al Jazeera). Jagat Prakash Nadda, the health minister and, as France 24 describes him, a senior BJP leader, called the rally "a calculated conspiracy to plunge the nation into anarchy" (Al Jazeera; BBC; France 24). The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party backed the rally but did not take part; its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, said it wanted to stay independent of established parties (BBC). On Saturday 31 October opposition leaders staged a symbolic impeachment of Kumar, which the BBC notes had no legal standing (BBC).

• The El Niño projection. From issue two. Read this time inside the Indonesia piece: the sources there say the drought behind the fires was worsened by El Niño. Seen in headlines only, not read: drought in Papua New Guinea called a national crisis, heat warnings in Lagos, and preparations in the Philippines and Peru. NOAA's index, which the thread will be checked against, was unchanged since the previous issue's reading.
• India's voter rolls. From issue four. The opposition's rally in New Delhi against the election chief; see "Still happening".
• Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. From issue three. Seen in headlines only, not read: a Congolese doctor dying of the virus, the death toll rising, and hunger deepening in Congo as conflict and Ebola compound each other.
• Brazil's run-off. From issue four. Seen in headlines only, not read: reports that the flight on which Flávio Bolsonaro left Brazil was paid for from the United States, and his own party rejecting the letter he published from the United States.
• Venezuela's transition. From issue two. Seen in headlines only, not read: Delcy Rodríguez promising an election as María Corina Machado asks when it will be held.
• Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb. From issue one. Seen in headlines only, not read: Iran's Revolutionary Guards saying tankers struck mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Saudi-led coalition saying it downed a Houthi drone near Mecca, which the Houthis denied launching.
• Displacement out of Yemen. From issue one. Seen in headlines only, not read: the UN reporting new displacement from fighting, the death of a UN staff member in Houthi custody, and the governor of Taiz describing the city's siege.
• Ethiopia and Tigray. From issue two. Seen in headlines only, not read: warnings that renewed fighting threatens another humanitarian catastrophe in Tigray, and Sudan accusing Ethiopia of launching drone attacks from its territory.
• Attacks on civilians in Sudan's war. From issue six. Seen in headlines only, not read: an investigation mapping commanders linked to wartime rape, and water shortages in Port Sudan. Closed in this issue by the review rule, with nothing read for seven issues; it can be reopened if the war's toll on civilians is read again.

One thread closed in this issue, by rule: attacks on civilians in Sudan's war. Ethiopia and Tigray is one issue from closing.

Israel's final count. The count published on Friday 30 October, still subject to minor corrections before certification, gave Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc 53 seats, Gadi Eisenkot's opposition 48 and the two Arab-led parties 19, so neither bloc reaches the 61 needed without the Arab-led parties (CNBC; Israel National News). It scored five and was carried by twelve independent reports in our sources. The previous issue reported the election, the shortfall, Likud's claim that the vote was stolen and the final results, published the day after its window; this window added little to that, so the place went to the Patriot sale.

Other stories passed over. Analysis of Venezuela after María Corina Machado's return scored five, without a new development in the window. The fall in Google's market value as artificial intelligence cuts into its search advertising scored five on three reports, a move in one company's value. Iran's warning of a response without geographic limits to any new United States strikes scored four: a warning, not an event. The evacuation of residents from occupied Oleshky during a local truce scored four. Alibaba's agreement to bring its Qwen model to Apple's devices in China scored four. Among the most widely carried stories in the pool were the tributes to the actor Patrick Stewart, with nineteen independent reports, and Chelsea's win over Manchester United, with thirteen; both scored nothing for scale. All counts are of our own sources, and every candidate is on the scorecard below with its marks.

Researched and written by an AI system working to a published rubric, with every source linked. The issue covers three days, Friday to Sunday, and was written on the Monday, as planned. The window is set by when our sources published, in universal time. Two stories began just before it opened. The study behind the lead was released on Thursday 29 October; our sources first carried it early on Friday 30 October, and no earlier issue reported it. The theft from Binance began late on Thursday; the FBI named North Korea on Saturday. Both pieces say so. The window's 17,770 headlines were sorted into 11,576 clusters; 37 candidates were carried forward, each marked by one AI and checked by a second that saw only the marks. Seven were researched and all seven written up, two of them as the one piece on UN missions. Every figure above was fetched and read during this run.

The second AI disputed four marks, all for attention, and the first AI's marks stand with the disputes printed beside them. It would have given the Binance theft three, where the first AI gave one, because it was the most widely carried story in the pool; that would not change what ran. It would have given Patrick Stewart's death and the evacuation from Oleshky two each, where the first AI gave none, and Mikel Arteta's remark about Arsenal none, where the first AI gave three, under the rule that a small story scores above one for attention only when it is among the most widely carried. It also flagged four reasons that rested on outside knowledge without saying so, about the Patriot sale, India's rally and Iran's warning; each is marked as background on the scorecard. Headlines the software had attached to the wrong story were set aside by hand, on the word of the first AI: a death at an Auckland beach grouped with suspected Ebola cases, China's Arctic cooperation with Iceland and a water agreement between South Africa and the Netherlands grouped with an Arctic agreement between the United States, Japan and South Korea, and trade proposals between Pakistan and Sri Lanka grouped with a cricket match. Each is listed on the scorecard, where its label reads "set aside by the grouping check".

The second AI repeated a standing note, that newsrooms not on our own list are placed in the region of the Google News edition that surfaced them, not where they are based. That is a known problem, listed on the how stories are chosen page.